Col. Board of Nursing: Rules and regs for prescriptive authority

Please review full update below from cna regarding APN rules changes.

go to www.dora.state.co.us/nursing/rules/proposedchapterxvrules.pdf to print and review the now actually approved rules as of 2/18/2010.

also i did contact the nursing board to try to gain some understanding in advance regarding prescriptive authority changes. all of us will be getting a letter and new rxn designation as rxn level one, this basically provides us to continue as we are until we submit an Articulated Plan for safe prescribing within 5 years. This replaces our physician collaborative agreement. Once this is done we will receive full prescriptive authority/ level two. The board is still working out the actual designations and the details / paperwork to be submitted as part of this application process.

we should each be getting letters in late march or april. this should further clarify what we as existing rxn granted apns need to do to update our status as the new regs don't really address us. it chiefly address new grads and out of state applicants.

Hope this helps

Tony Volz

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:

The Colorado Board of Nursing had its Chapter XV rules hearing on January 27, 2010 with Colorado Nurses Association staff and membership in attendance. The new rules for advanced practice nurses with prescriptive authoring were amended and passed after testimony by representatives of the Board of Medicine, Colorado Nurses Association and the Colorado Medical Society. The Board of Medical Examiners Hearing on their complementary rules will be held on February 18th in Conference Room 1250C, at 1560 Broadway. The proposed rules are available on the websites of the Board of Nursing and the Board of Medical Examiners. Colorado Nurses Association will be providing education about how these rules will affect nurses who currently have prescriptive authority as well as those who will be applying for it in the near future.

The legislative session formally started on January 13th this year. The association has proposed a bill that will amend language to remove some current barriers to advanced practice nurses moving to Colorado from other states. SB10-058 eases current eligibility requirements for nursing faculty members seeking forgiveness for student loans. HB10-1025 and HB10-1122 both concern updates to the current Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act. HB10-1122 proposes adding advanced practice nurses and physicians assistants to the providers who can sign medical orders determining the scope of treatment (MOST) for adults in certain circumstances. HB10-1033 proposes adding screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) to services that can be reimbursed by Medicaid. Another bill we will be following is a bill sponsored by Senator Morgan Carroll proposing adding nurses and many other healthcare professionals to the Skolnick Transparency legislation that currently applies only to physicians. The Colorado Medical Practice Act is up for its Sunset Review and that legislation will be drafted and in hearings in the upcoming week. Several other bills are anticipated to be coming soon that we will actively discuss and determine if CNA wants to support, oppose or monitor in the near future.

For more information about these and other bills that are being followed by the Government Affairs and Public Policy Committee (GAPP), please contact the association, your district legislative chairperson or the GAPP Committee for more information. GAPP co-chairs are Mary Ciambelli, CNS, PhD, RXN at drymaryc@msn.com and Marion Thornton, MSN, FNP-C at fnp_8209@msn.com. GAPP Committee meets the second and fourth Wednesday of the month during the legislative session at 6:00 pm at the CNA headquarters.